Despite losing a core of quality players during the off-season, and hardly blessed with one of J-League’s grandest budgets, Muscat is conjuring minor miracles.

CANNY KEV ON A HIGH

  • Kevin Muscat is shining with Yokohama F. Marinos as he carries on where Ange Postecoglou left off.
  • Though stripped of a raft of key players in the off-season, Muscat has steered the club to top spot in the J1 League.
  • Muscat has kept faith with the exciting, adventurous approach which brought Postecoglou success in Japan.

More Australian football news can be found on FTBL.

Having finished runners-up last term in his debut campaign at Nissan Stadium, Muscat's Tricoors are currently going one better, perched in top spot on 31 points from 16 games - one clear of Kashima Antlers.

Seamlessly able to integrate 14 new recruits into an exciting attacking system, the 48-year-old ex-Melbourne Victory coach is winning new admirers by the week.

A future Socceroos coach perhaps? Or possibly a second coming in Europe at some point after a previous steep learning curve in Belgium’s top flight at Sint-Truiden.

All is on the horizon but still the province of conjecture. Meantime, Muscat is doing his bit to further burnish the overseas lustre of Australian caches in the wake of Postecoglou’s whirlwind success at Celtic.

He's also guided the Marinos into the last 16 of the Asian Champions League - despite the departures of headline acts like Thiago Martins, Keita Endo, Ado Onaiwu and Golden Boot wiiner Daizen Maeda to Celtic.

“We’ve built a certain amount of resilience into this squad in a fairly short time, which is pleasing because a lot of new players have come to the club,” Muscat told FTBL.

“We’re in a good position - we’ve built ourselves a base and now we’re striving for that consistency you need (to be challenging for titles).

“A lot of it is about mental stamina as well as the physical side of the game. We’re not taking anything for granted - we know where we’re at with the squad and how it’s been put together.

“But I’m not putting limitations on anybody … limitations are for those who aren’t willing to go the next yard and put in the work to improve.

“Right now, as far as I’m concerned, there are no limitations.”

Muscat makes light of the rejuvenation program he’s in the midst of masterminding, refusing to seek kudos for his team’s surging form.

“It depends on the lens you’re looking at things through,” he added. "Last season was possibly the end of a cycle and together with the club we made a decision on the direction we wanted to go in.

“We replaced quite a few players with younger models, if you like.  And they’ve come in and done really well.

“There’s definitely been an upside to that - and we’ve pushed as hard as we can to achieve that upside as soon as possible.

“We’re definitely in a good way at the moment.”

PLUS...

Myth-buster Arnold shatters a thousand stereotypes

The notion that Socceroos gaffer Graham Arnold is a risk-averse coach cocooned in a cage of caution has exploded into a thousand pieces.

PLUS...

Socceroos shootout heroes on way to World Cup

In their last chance to secure qualification for this year's World Cup, the Socceroos secured a place in Qatar.

More news can be found using this link.